Hampton Court Flower Show 2011: The best roses
A suitably dressed group of young actors from the Chichester Festival Theatre, who have just staged Alice in Wonderland, will present the award for the Rose of the Year 212 to ‘A Moment in Time’ . This repeat-flowering, bright red floribunda with dusky foliage was bred by the ecologically principled German nursery Kordes Roses, also winners in 24, 26 and 211. They specialise in breeding healthy roses that survive without spraying and this compact rose would make a fine container specimen close to a doorway. Although introduced by Mattocks Roses ‘A Moment in Time’ will be widely available from this autumn.
Philip and Robert Harkness of Harkness Roses are fifth-generation rose growers. Their nursery just outside Hitchin in Hertfordshire is 138 years old this year. These two far-sighted brothers abandoned fungicides more than 15 years ago and their homebred roses , don’t receive chemical support, making them suitable for organic gardeners. Every year 25, seedlings are raised, but only one per cent are considered good enough to find their way into the breeding programme.
Harkness launch ‘Virginia McKenna’ , a rounded, soft-yellow rose that has taken nine years to raise. “It’s incredibly healthy,” says Philip, “yet it has an old-fashioned look reminiscent of a hybrid musk in scent and form. Clusters of dark buds open to reveal loosely formed blooms that fade to clotted cream around the edges. It’s floriferous, repeat-flowering and it reaches 4ft so it’s suitable for a hedge or the border, especially when grown near blue delphiniums.”
A royalty will support the Born Free Foundation and Virginia McKenna OBE, who recently turned 8, will christen the rose at the start of the show.
Related Articles
Pocock’s Roses are based in Romsey, Hampshire, but they have a Cornish sister, The Cornish Rose Company , based near Truro. The Cornish-grown varieties are suited to the wetter areas of Britain. Stuart Pocock is introducing two new roses raised by Rosen Tantau, a German breeder. The romantic ‘Pure Poetry’ has ruby-red blooms with bright pink overtones. The strong stems and tightly spiralled buds make this an excellent cut flower.
‘Camelot’ is a manageable climber reaching up to 9ft. The pliable, smooth stems can be easily trained onto pergolas, trellises and arches so that the semi-double pink-flecked flowers are seen to best advantage.
Red floribundas are rather like buses, when one comes along another soon follows. Norfolk rose grower Bill LeGrice introduces ‘Katie’s Rose’ , bred by the late Colin Horner, but named after a promising young singer called Katie Thompson who recently appeared at the Little Theatre in Sheringham. The velvet-red flowers have a purple bloom and the glossy, mid-green foliage is toothed in a darker red edge. It must be a family tradition: Katie’s mother Deborah also has a rose named after her – a pink floribunda called ‘Deb’s Delight’.
The pick of Plant Heritage
Plant Heritage has its own marquee adjacent to the roses, the Living Library. Its seed shop, sponsored by eco-friendly compost maker Vital Earth, is a Hampton highlight, offering packets of unusual seeds donated by collection holders for just £1. If you buy a plant from a collection holder you can take it to the Brother stand and ask for a professionally printed label.
Forty collections are represented, 15 from Hampshire alone – but 12 of these are held by the Sir Harold Hillier Gardens in Romsey, with a 13th on the way. This diverse 18-acre site, with a gentle maritime climate, offers acidic Bagshot sand and neutral soil. This led Sir Harold to create the garden here in the Fifties. Barry Clarke, who propagates the collections for the arboretum, displays rare plants from each collection. They include the golden fronds of swamp cypress Metasequoia glyptostroboides ‘Gold Rush’, originally found as a seedling in Japan.
Keith Hayward of Hampshire-based Hart Canna has battled harder than most to conserve his colourful collection, since canna yellow streak virus devastated cannas roughly 1 years ago. The symptoms show themselves before the leaves unfurl, when a pale-green 3mm streak with pointed ends appears on the back of the unfurled leaves. Keith, aided by the recent good weather, will show 2 virus-free cannas in a quest to win another gold medal. Among the best on show are the new ‘Rosemund Coles’, but old favourites like ‘Durban’ and ‘Wyoming’ will also add a tropical note.
Sun-loving dahlias, perfect companions for cannas, are shown in the Plant Heritage marquee by Winchester Growers . Look out for a new one called ‘Tiger’ with stripy flowers that change and shimmer due to a jumping gene. ‘Poppy Scotland’, a bright red single dahlia with dark foliage, makes its English debut. And who could resist the rarely seen Sixties variety, ‘Royal Wedding’, with its dark foliage and spiky orange-red flowers shaded in yellow. Winchester Growers can also be found in the much larger Floral Marquee .
Pollie Maasz of Pollie’s Daylilies , loves hemerocallis as long as they have open flowers, like the buff yellow ‘Lady Neva’.
“They mingle into modern planting that includes grasses much better than the rounder-flowered ones,” says Pollie. Her Lymington nursery and trials field, run on organic lines, has hundreds of named varieties and seedlings. Some are imported from America where hemerocallis “are the most popular perennial of all”. Pollie also raises her own seedlings, but she has to be up early to cross-pollinate as the hoverflies strip off the pollen once the sun shines.
This is Pollie’s first appearance at Hampton Court. This year’s early spring, followed by cooler days, has seen many of her daylilies flower too early. Despite this, she will still display almost 5 varieties that all look like “butterflies floating in the breeze”. The near-black ‘Chateau Lafite’ has dark stamens set against a green middle surrounded by dark, wavy-edged reflexed petals. Others, like ‘Lee Reinke’ are almost bridal, with blush-white petals flushed in palest pink. The exotic ‘Webster’s Pink Wonder’ has 14in petals that droop downwards, adding flow and movement.
Eagle Sweet Peas
The new salmon-pink ‘William and Catherine’ was named to commemorate the royal wedding; 22 different varieties in all. Floral Marquee 38
Hampshire Carnivorous Plants
Matthew Soper’s surreal display of nepenthes and sarracenias has already scooped two Tudor Rose Awards in 24 and 21. FM71
Jacques Amand International
Last year they scooped a gold and the award for the best creative display. Look out for their rocket-like foxtail lilies and exotic gloriosa lilies and alliums. FM 25
Trecanna Nursery
Cornish nursery specialising in South African plants, including crocosmia, eucomis, tulbaghia and nerine. FM 76
The Dorset Water Lily Company
Tropical water lilies and other exotic water plants, plus a full range of hardy varieties floating in an abandoned boat. Look for them in the Park, PK 249 .
Similar Posts:
- Help your roses stay happy in the summer heat
- Flower arranging lessons from Chatsworth House
- Telegraph Gardenshop: Autumn crocus
- Marginal Plants For The Garden Fishpond
- Gardening week ahead: Help with a hedge problem
Place your comment